Playing catchup is right. This is related to something I've been saying about the Falcons for a while. Against a good team, they NEVER dominate, they just hang around all day like buzzards, stay in it and get lucky. Or they get blown out, like the Packers and Steelers exposed them.

If you look at the last few Saints-Falcons games, the typical pattern is that they are 7-0, 7-7, 14-7, 14-14, 21-14, 21-17, 24-17, 24-24 type of games, where the Falcons basically trail on the scoreboard for most of the day. If the Falcons win, they squeak it out; if they lose, they still tend to hang around all day, usually because something breaks down or goes wrong with the Saints (Pierre Thomas ankle, Hartley, the crazy Drew flea flicker or shuffle pass, etc).

And I keep trying to explain to people, that these Saints/Falcons games are NOT as close or evenly matched as the Falcons fans think they are. But when the Falcons win on a fluke missed field goal, in their minds it turns into "We dominated the Saints all freakin' day!" and it just ain't true. They constantly play catchup to the Saints!

The Saints will have their hands full with the Falcons, but the good news is that if the Falcons start going for the big plays, watch out, because Matt "Ice" Ryan is going to start heaving a lot more INTs, and they will be the BIG STUPID kind, because he is gonna feel that pressure from the coaching staff to try and force stuff when it's not really there -- "chuck it long, we NEED more BIG plays, Matt." And everybody knows he's a good QB, but he's not THAT good. His "ice" reputation is because he is always throwing short easy dink passes. So this could be an awesome development for us, if it gets the Falcons off their usual game. He's thrown some really bad long interceptions against the Saints, some were real game-losers.